Originally I wanted to to write about NihAV progress but some kind soul has uploaded the final missing piece of Dingo Pictures art collections so I have no other choice but to talk about it.
So, Arischa the Little Witch (…on the visit to the Magic Forest).
The opening is a bit confusing since I’ve never seen such effects in any other openings from Dingo Pictures.
The young granddaughter of witch Sofia, you can guess her name, travels with raven Rudi (sorry, but I know only Rudi Rüssel) into the Magic Forest to talk to the oldest tree. There she also meets the usual animals and after that they together work on improving her witching skills (she could not even fly her broomstick, poor girl).
And to make things worse there is a nasty dwarf in the forest who messes with her magic textbooks and turns animals into stone (don’t think about Gimli son of Glóin, think about Ifnkovhgroghprm Rumplestiltskin).
And here are some effects not seen before in any Dingo Pictures cartoon:
That is why I was surprised by the opening animation. But they have used similar effects in the cartoon too.
I’m not going to reveal the whole plot but it’s not a Dingo Pictures story without a happy ending.
Also it should not be a spoiler to say that koda plays a rather large role here:
Also I don’t remember seeing bird facepalming before (even if that does not look exactly like it, that is facepalm indeed).
The soundtrack is mostly either jazzy or Wabuu theme (and if there’s one thing that could improve this film, it’s definitely Wabuu). The graphics style is still the golden standard Dingo, just with some additional effects thrown it (it was 2005 after all and CGI was on the rise). The story is straightforward and reminds me of many witch stories for children written in Germany—who hasn’t heard about Otfried Preußler for instance (but Germans had this obsession with witches long before their most famous book on that subject, Malleus Maleficarum, was published in about 100km from Dingo Pictures studio).
Overall, this feels like the best animated Dingo Pictures work and I’m a bit sad they haven’t continued producing their stuff. Even my co-worker said this looks much better than the 3D animated crap that’s produced nowadays.